"There is only one power that determines the course of history . . . the power of ideas." — Ayn Rand

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

The Anti-Free Speech Fallacy of ‘Dark Money’

NJ.com’s Claude Brodesser-Akner reported that You'll be shocked at how much political cash will flood into N.J. this year. There are important state ballot questions to be decided. As a result, NJ politics may overshadow the presidential and congressional contests. This will mean “ a blizzard . . . that will bury the state in accumulating drifts of political campaign cash never seen before. Unions and special interest groups expect to shower a walloping $100 million on the Garden State in advance of” the election, Brodesser-Akner contends.

The issues are secondary to my purposes in this blog post, however. Brodesser-Akner’s article appeared on the front page of the New Jersey Star-Ledger, implying that the article is news reporting. But this paragraph got my attention:

Part of the reason for the the coming flood of dark money is the landmark 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, in which the nation's highest court ruled that the "free speech" clause of the Constitution prevented the government from restricting independent political expenditures by non-profit corporations.

I left these comments:

Dark money?” Is this news reporting or a political opinion piece? Sounds like the latter.

“Dark money” is the phrase used by enemies of free speech to insinuate that the money collected and spent on political advocacy is somehow ill-gotten and intended for underhanded purposes just because the source is not public knowledge. But all “dark money” is is private money spent by private individuals on causes and candidates they believe in. They want to remain anonymous? So what? It’s their right. It’s also the right of candidates to accept only campaign support from people who disclose their identity, and of voters to vote only for candidates who announce such a condition.

The flood of campaign money is a reflection of the size and scope of the government’s involvement in our lives. So no one should “be shocked at how much political cash will flood into N.J. this year.” Given the gravity of the issues, we should welcome it. The money spreads viewpoints and information. The “special interests” speak not only for themselves but for ordinary citizens who agree with the message but lack the resources to reach mass audiences, while providing fodder for public debate between voters of differing viewpoints. In the end, the voters have the final say. The last thing we need are laws that restrict free speech, which will only serve to protect the political class and the government from accountability, scrutiny, and criticism.

There’s nothing “dark” about private money used for political advocacy, whatever the amount and whether the spender chooses to remain anonymous or not. There is something dark about people using government force to pry open the lives of politically active citizens and/or restricting their political activism. Who but those who want to evade debating the issues and instead engage in ad hominem smear tactics would care who is funding the political ads we see and hear? Thank you, Citizens United!—one of the most pro-liberty, and moral, SCOTUS decisions of my lifetime.

About Me

Greetings and welcome to my blog. My name is Michael A. (Mike) LaFerrara. I sometimes use the pen or "screen" name "Mike Zemack" or "Zemack" in online activism, such as posted comments on articles. “Zemack” stands for the first letters of the names of my six grandchildren. I was born in 1949 in New Jersey, U.S.A., where I retired from a career in the plumbing, building controls, and construction industries, and still reside with my wife of 45 years. The purpose of my blog is the discussion of a wide range of topics relating to human events from the perspective of Objectivism, the philosophy of reason, rational self-interest, and Americanism originated by Ayn Rand.

As Rand observed: “The professional intellectual is the field agent of the army whose commander-in-chief is the philosopher.” I am certainly not the philosopher. But neither am I a field agent, or general. I am a foot soldier in that Objectivist army that fights for an individualist society in which every person can live in dignified sovereignty, by his own reasoned judgment, for his own sake, in that state of peaceful coexistence with his fellow man that only capitalist political and economic freedom can provide. While I am a fully committed Objectivist, my opinions are based on my own understanding of Objectivism, and should not be taken as definitive “Objectivist positions.” For the full story of my journey toward Objectivism, see my Introduction.

One final introductory note: I strongly recommend Philosophy, Who Needs it, which highlights the inescapable importance of philosophy in every individual's life. I can be reached at mal.atlas@comcast.net. Thanks, Mike LaFerrara.

Recommended Essays/Videos

Quotes I Like

Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter.—Francisco d'Anconia

I love getting older...I get to grow up and learn things. Madalyn, 5 years old, Montesorri student, and my grand-daughter

The best thing one can do for the poor is to not become one of them. Author Unknown

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. Francis Bacon

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Ronald Reagan

Thinking is hard work. If it weren't, more people would do it. Henry Ford

Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries. Ayn Rand